It’s happening again. The same thing that happened before I ran 13.1 miles from the City to the Sea back in October. Ryan and I are running in the Chains of Love 15k this Sunday. It should be a pretty fun race and it benefits the Cal Poly Triathlon Team so it goes toward a pretty great cause too. The 15k is about 9.5 miles and it follows the 10K and 5K routes (did I mention there is also a 5K and 10K?). I chose this race because it seemed like the perfect way for me to gradually get back to higher mileage. If you remember, the month after the half marathon was pretty brutal running-wise. I’ve kicked it into high gear the last month or so, upping my mileage and running more often. However, the past couple of runs haven’t been so great. I’m starting to psyche myself out again. I’ll start running and if there’s any sort of glitch in the first mile, my mind just snowballs. The stream of consciousness goes something like this:

“If I’m sore already now, imagine how sore I’ll be on race day. What if I get tired after 1 mile when I have to go 9? What if I can’t finish? What if I have to walk? There’s no way I can go 9 miles if I’m slightly out of breath right now…”

If there is anything I’ve learned in the past 9 months, it’s that running has more to do with how strong you are mentally, than physically. I know that my body can physically go the distance, it’s just a matter of if my mind will let it. On half marathon day, I ran more than 11 miles without walking. Before that, my longest run was 8. The body really is capable of incredible things. So for the next few days I’ll be resting, eating well and reminiscing about how amazing it felt to cross the half marathon finish line. Stay tuned…I’ll let you know what happens Sunday!